Hobson was educated in the common schools in Greensburg and Danville, Kentucky, and at the age of eighteen, went into business with his father.

He commanded his regiment at the Battle of Shiloh with such success that he was nominated by President Abraham Lincoln for promotion to brigadier general.

[1][2] Finally receiving his commission as brigadier general, he was placed in charge of Union troops in his home state of Kentucky and ordered to watch the movements of Confederate Brig.

He was then appointed to the command of General Ambrose Burnside's cavalry corps, but owing to impaired health, he was unable to serve in that role.

[1] Ironically, Hobson and about 750 men of the 171st Ohio Infantry were captured by Morgan in June 1864, near Cynthiana, Kentucky.

[2] After the war, he became a companion of the Ohio Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.

He joined the Radical Republicans and unsuccessfully ran for clerk of the state Court of Appeals, a bitterly divisive campaign that foreshadowed the following year's elections for Kentucky's governor and congressional seats.

Hobson's Federal style brick home in Greensburg (built by his father in 1823) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.